Common Toads emerge from hibernation in early spring and start a hazardous journey to their breeding ponds. Breeding is often very frenzied, with much competition amongst males over access to females. Males grasp females tightly prior to spawning, and there is aggressive activity amongst males who try to ‘take-over’ females; females occasionally drown or are crushed as a result.
Successful pairs will spawn; females release a double-string of eggs, which the male fertilizes by releasing his sperm simultaneously. The pair moves around whilst spawning, so that the jelly-coated strings of eggs become wrapped around vegetation. One female may produce up to 5,000 eggs.
It takes 8 to 12 weeks for tadpoles to develop. When they first leave the ponds the baby toads look like miniature replicas of their parents.
Sexual maturity is reached after two to three years. Common toads can live for a very long time; some captive individuals have reached 50 years of age.
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The photographs of the common toads were taken a few days ago at a pond in the three-country-corner, where Switzerland, France and Germany meet.